Norwegian state oil company Statoil is poised for another round of cost-cutting after reporting a 74 percent decline in its profits for the first half of this year.
Even though Statoil has enjoyed record-high oil prices in recent years and several major new discoveries, its stock hasn’t performed nearly as well as other that of oil companies.
Statoil chief executive Helge Lund said Statoil may start outsourcing more jobs abroad and using more foreign firms for construction of new offshore installations, because they can deliver equipment at lower cost than Norwegian firms. That’s likely to alarm Norway’s offshore industry, and set off political debate.
newsinenglish.no staff
